Wolves

Anthony Edwards strikes a softer tone after bad Timberwolves loss to Magic

Edwards let loose last week after the Wolves lost to New Orleans. His tone wasn't nearly as harsh after Monday's loss to another poor team.

By Chris Hine

November 2, 2021 at 4:46PM

Anthony Edwards said the Timberwolves just aren’t hitting open shots on offense right now. (Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

One week ago, when the Timberwolves lost their first game of the season to a bad New Orleans Pelicans team, Anthony Edwards had some things on his mind he needed to let out.

He criticized himself and teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell on their lack of spreading the wealth on offense.

After the team's second bad loss, 116-97 on Monday to Orlando, Edwards struck a much calmer, relaxing tone related to the offense after the worst loss of the young season.

"For me, I'm not too frustrated because I know I put the work in," Edwards said. "So start making shots sooner or later. Hopefully sooner than later. I feel like we good. Feel like we still good."

They just weren't good Monday.

Edwards said the Wolves are generating good shots, they aren't hitting enough of them right now. The offense isn't functioning perfectly, but it's functioning well enough.

"We're getting wide open catch and shoot threes," Edwards said. "Just ain't hitting."

One reaction to that might be to drive to the basket more. But on Monday, Edwards pointed to a free-throw shooting disparity between the Wolves and Magic as a reason the Wolves might have been discouraged to drive. The Magic shot 15 free throws in the first quarter and finished with 30. The Wolves shot 20.

"When we do [go inside] we don't get no calls, so we want to take outside shots," Edwards said. "They shot like 20 free-throws in the first quarter. We ain't shoot none."

The Wolves shot one.

Coach Chris Finch and Towns echoed Edwards' thoughts on the offense, which shot 38% and made only 14 of 51 three-point attempts. The Wolves are getting open shots, but it's still frustrating when they don't fall, and right now that's affecting them mentally and those struggles lead to others.

"If I look at our shooters, they got good looks," Finch said. "Of course maybe you go to the bucket here and there, but we missed 37 threes. I would probably bet you 30-plus were still good looks. We got to make more than that, but we didn't."

Physical night

The Wolves came away from Monday more injured than they have been all season. Russell exited with a right ankle injury and did not return. Finch did not have any information regarding Russell's timeline for return after the game. Patrick Beverley missed the game because of left calf soreness leaving Jordan McLaughlin to handle point-guard duties most of the second half.

Finch did say Beverley was a game-time decision and had a shot at playing. Naz Reid appeared to have a sore shoulder after Mo Bamba delivered a forearm shiver to him in the second quarter. Reid was down for a moment but was able to return in the second half, though he played just 4 minutes, 7 seconds.

Towns was also favoring what appeared to be a sore right thumb but he still logged 37 minutes.